Greetings fellow riders, Ok let me set this up for you. The date is Aug 29 ,2009 ,my wife and I decide to go for a ride ,we are 0n interstate 65 south at about mile marker 103 .And we are tooling along at 75 mph ,everthing is going well Until I feel the rear of the bike drop down the least little bit. First thing I did was to pull off the road ,and kill the engine . At first thought I had a flat tire ,got off the bike looked at the tire ,it looked ok . Gave the tire a little kick ,still hard as a rock . As I pressed down on the luggage rack ,something caught my eye near the left rear shock. The more I looked at it the Bolt that holds the top of the shock to the bike had sheared off ,and with futher exam noted the eye of the shock was also bent . We ride 2 up alot ,and could not remember hitting a bump or anything that would have caused that to happen,and we both do not weigh enough to cause that .We were not even carrying any luggage . And to make matters worse we had to wait 2 hours for a friend of mine to get a trailer and come pick us up. And the real kicker was that ,over a dozen bikes passed us and not one of them stopped to see if they could help out. What's up with that !!!!!!!?reguardless if I am on my bike or not I ALWAYS Stop to see if I can be of help . OK if anyone of you fine fellow riders ,have any imput or causes that caused the bolt to shear off .Feel free to chime in .
Thanks in advance!!!

 

I had the same bolt shear on me once and with some creative zip tying I was able to get home. In 08 the moco went from a bolt to a stud on that application so I switched to that and was ok for a couple of years untill one day the stud broke. I then replaced the studs with grade 8 bolts and I've been good ever since.

 

I hit a mother-of-all-potholes and sheered off the same shock bolt and broke the seal on the shock. Progressive rebuilt the shock on warranty. Harley disclaimed any responsibility for the bolt. I was only going about 30 at the time. Of course, it was raining a downpour, and I sat by the bike for 2 hours waiting for the tow truck which was held up by a call to tow a police car that had been hit by a bus in the rain. I guess it could have been worse.
Jay

 

Good reading from the ever inconspicuous Jay Risk (Part Time Hooligan, Part Time Saint, but always a biker) on this subject. Your fix is to toss the crap shocks and get something that works.

 

I lost my manual . What is the size of the top and bottom shock bolts. I will be changing out the shocks so might as well do the same with the bolts. Can someone also please verify the shock torque for the 07 street bob. I got these specs while searching but just want verification.

Upper bolts:
75-85ft/lbs
Lower bolts:
30-40ft/lbs


.

 

Geez...how much do you guys weigh, next time leave the OL at home

 

Shock Bolt 1/2" X 13 X 2 1/2"

How much the riders weighs is not relevant to breaking the bolt. The shock was unable to perform the the function it was designed to do. Many here use this type of equipment and endure the poor performance because they may not know any better or ride may not be a priority.

 

I just had this happen a couple of days ago, riding an '06 35th Anniversary Superglide. No bumps or potholes going 45MPH suddenly it felt like the bike broke in half and I was riding too low. I pulled over and got off and noticed that the left shock bolt was sheared in to. I looked at the right one and it was bent and a couple of minutes later it gave way and the rear fender was sitting on my tire. From reading this forum and others this is apparently a problem that HD isn't acknowledging. They sure as hell do know about it though or there wouldn't be a upgrade/replacement kit that replaces the bolts with studs.

I spent a hour or so on the phone with HD customer support about my issue and they acted like they never heard of it -- BS! I went to the local stealership with the support # and they said they would look into the matter (hmm lets see what happens). Right, I told them that if there is an upgrade/replacement kit and it is recommended that it be put on these bikes and it wasn't put on mine (I bought it used from them) then they ought to put it on there for me and not charge me for it. I don't really believe they will though, but if I didn't say anything then i shouldn't expect anything.